Deleted
by AbyssalCaesar
Summary: A story following the Deleter in Metroid Other M as he hunts down his squadmates with ruthless efficeny. LOTS OF SPOILERS WITHIN!
1. It's time to go to work

**For my next FanFic I thought I would embark on a look at one of Metroid's underated and overlooked villains (mainly because like most of the marines in Other M he gets all of four lines) WARNING SPOILERS AS LARGE AS (mini) KRAID!**

**Basically this fic will look at the character of James Pierce, revealed to be the Deleter after the discovery of his body (not that it is explicitly said but a process of elimination proves it) This fic will follow him as he moves throughout the Bottle Ship sytematically and callously killing of his squadmates one by one before his demise. For me he is a very interesting villain as unlike the other Metroid villains he is as human (seemingly) as you or I.**

**I hope you enjoy and as always reviews are eternally appreciated.**

**Metroid Other M: Deleted**

It was just a job. That was all it was to him. Just a job, a dirty job admittedly but someone needed to do it and he took a small amount of pride in knowing he was very good at it. James Pierce had been selected to act as a Deleter two years prior to his current mission, following an incident within the Galactic Federation Military that had seen him discharged following several charges of attempted mutiny, sexual harassment and assault.

He had been approached by a man claiming to represent a small sect with the Federation that were interested in the research and experimentation for bioweapons. This was highly illegal but the group had many high contacts and the pestilent corruption in the Galactic Federation meant that as long as they did not draw the attention of particularly overzealous GF operatives, they could operate in near total secrecy and security.

The man had wasted little time in asking if James would be interested in becoming a Deleter for them in return for all his court charges being "dealt with". James had accepted with some reluctance knowing what the job entailed but, the large pay check and bestowed diplomatic immunity won him round. Unsurprisingly the charges against him were dropped; he was reinstated and even given a promotion to the 07th Platoon.

A "Deleter" was a military position the very existence of which was kept secret, many suspected, even from the Galactic Federation's Supreme Council. As a result only a handful of people, in the highest echelons of the GF Military and the Secret Police, knew of or had access to a Deleter. A Deleter's role could be generally summed up as the covering up of potential dirty stains to the GF's crystal white public image through extreme force if required. If there was a high ranking politician known to be a Space Pirate sympathizer? Send in a Deleter. If a GF Military Platoon was known to be planning a mutiny? A Deleter would be dispatched and the rebels in question would magically disappear, "officially" fleeing to join the Space Pirates. Deleters would be indistinguishable from normal soldiers and would officially hold which ever rank they had prior to becoming a Deleter in his case it would be Communications Expert. Having heard so many rumours from his fellow soldiers about "phantom soldiers appearing at will" and "shape shifting marines with red eyes" James often chuckled to himself at how mundane the truth was. Deleters were trash men who used dirty methods to keep the GF clean.

He had done several missions now but this one was shaping up to be his most daunting. His platoon members had all seen frontline action and their leader was decorated and renowned for his martial prowess and tactical genius. Commander Adam Malkovich. Pulling the wool over his eyes and if necessary neutralising him would prove very difficult indeed but James did like a challenge and he had a feeling the mild mannered Maurice Favreau and the anxious K.G. Misawa would not present much of one.

His objectives were complicated and likely to become even more so as the mission developed: **1. **prevent 07th Platoon discovering the true purpose of the Bottle Ship** 2. **If 07th Platoon should discover true purpose neutralise them by any means necessary and destroy all evidence. **3.** Neutralise any survivors linked to the Bottle Ship projects **4.** Secure Sector Zero and Project Metroid Warriors for transfer to employers following success of objectives 1, 2 and 3. **5. **Activate Bottle Ship's self-destruct system and evacuate.

He would hate to say he was cocky or arrogant but he had already partially succeeded objectives 1 and 2. By disabling his team's personal communicators they would be isolated and easy pickings; unable to corroborate evidence to establish who the traitor was. In addition he had planted trackers that would enable him to roughly know where the rest of the Platoon was in the Bottle Ship. He smirked to himself and leant back against the wall of the ship behind him. "What is so funny James?" Maurice enquired good naturedly, "Ahh nothing really," James replied nonchalantly, "just I'd be lying to myself if I said I wasn't a little bit excited about this mission."

Lyle, who was sitting opposite him, chuckled, "Yeah I know how you feel. I always get a kick from my missions. There is something about the unknown that gets my blood pumping." James nodded and, deciding that keeping up the conversation would help gain their trust, addressed K.G. "What about you K.G.? You up for this?" K.G. meekly replied, "I don't know how you can all be so calm! I mean we have no idea what could be waiting for us there do we?" James was about to reply when the stern voice of Adam cut him off. "That's enough talk. Focus on the mission you should all be checking your armour and weapons. Carelessness invites death." "Wow," James thought, "what an asshole."

The largest member of the Platoon, Anthony Higgs, spoke to Adam. "Ahh come on Commander I mean we all need to blow off a bit of steam before we do this thing right?" Adam grunted and the conversation resumed. A little while later James caught Adam staring at the various members of the Platoon. James began to wonder if he already suspected there was a traitor among them after all Adam was high enough up in the GF to know about Deleters wasn't he?

As the spaceship touched down in the Bottle Ship Hangar Bay, the Platoon lowered their visors and ran down the ramp into the Bottle Ship. James Pierce took a last glance back at their ship and then turning around marched off into the bowels of the ship. It was time to go to work.


	2. Hunter, killer, traitor

"Lyle head for the Exam Centre in Sector 1. It should not be far from where you are at the moment. Meet the other Platoon Members there." The navigation booth fell silent once more. Lyle heaved his rifle back into a combat ready position and set off with a belt of explosives round his waist. The Biosphere was proving to be a bit of a nightmare with almost all the local fauna, and sometimes even flora, wanting to eat him.

As if this was not bad enough most of the inhabitants were bugs. Goddam bugs! He despised bugs they had too many limbs and were persistent as heck. The Biosphere's own varieties were some of the worst he had ever encountered. The swarming Reos with their razor sharp claws? Damned bugs. Venus flytraps that turned out to be not only man-eating, but actually bugs as well and the enormous worms he had seen burrowing through the soft ground were as close to bugs as made no difference to him. Even that harmless fluffy white thing that had at times been following him unsettled him. Thankfully a quick boot to its face had sent it scurrying.

"The sooner we're done here the better" He muttered to himself, blasting a pack of those dratted Reos out of the sky before tossing an explosive into their oozing, fleshy hive. A rustling in the bushes caused him to yet again lose it and he filled the bush with a burst of fire before storming off further into the jungle.

James stared aghast at just how close he had come to being pulverised by Lyle's manic firing. The psycho had peppered the bush with enough fire to kill a Pirate Commando! He had only just managed to dive behind a particularly thick set of tree roots that had shielded him while Lyle tore the bush to pieces. Lyle was obviously on edge so would be all the harder to take down but James had resolved that he needed to die. The Exam Centre had a lot of data stored in it on his employers' operations and at this rate Lyle would get there before James could find a way to wipe the computers and destroy the building itself. Lyle's explosives would suffice the latter but the only way James could get his hands on them was if he killed Lyle. He set off after Lyle, this time with a lot more caution.

Lyle entered a large room that simulated the environment of a field, in the distance was the Exam Centre and to Lyle's relief there was not a bug in sight. Still moving with his weapon up Lyle advanced across the field scanning the environment for a potential assailant. Suddenly he heard footsteps and spun round ready to give hell to whatever was there. "Whoa Lyle, it's me James." Lyle grunted and lowered his weapon. "What you doing here James? You were meant to be exploring the control bridge and fixing our communications."

"I was Lyle but there was nothing to see and nothing to be done about the communications and I should know cos I'm the expert right?" They both flipped up their visors. "Well it's good to see you James, everything here is out to kill me!" Lyle chuckled but James seemed distracted. "What's that over there by that truck?" Lyle spun round "I don't see anything. It's just a broken down vehicle what did you think you s-" Lyle collapsed and fell to the ground an overwhelming chill, freezing his form rigid. He tried to cry out to James for help but the ice had stopped his voice dead. He tried to look round to see his attacker but his neck wouldn't move. Suddenly he was being dragged away across the ground. He tried to struggle free but once again his body wouldn't respond. He was flung into some long grass and flowers and ended up on his back. Looking up he caught site of James approaching. "Thank god" he thought, "he must have killed whatever attacked me". James bent down and pried Lyle's explosives from him, then without a word arose and walked away towards the Exam Centre. Lyle tried to call out but could only just manage a moan. Then the terrible realisation dawned on him.

His seething rage against James was intensified further by some of the feeling returning to his body. The traitor would have wished he'd made sure Lyle was dead when he had finished with him. As Lyle attempted to work feeling into his form he was distracted by another noise, a sort of chirping sound. Unable to twist round and have a look Lyle waited and was greeted by the sight of the fluffy thing from earlier approaching him on its spindly little legs. It hopped up onto his chest and looked down at him with its beady little eyes. Lyle tried to throw it off but he barely managed to lift his arms and they fell uselessly to his sides. A bit of saliva dropped onto Lyle's armour, was it drooling? He managed to gaze into its eyes and was horrified to recognise something all living things experienced; hunger. He tried to shout for help but his vocal chords failed him. Letting out what sounded almost like a laugh the creature bit down hard into his armour its surprisingly sharp fangs penetrating the metal plating. When it rose up again its teeth were tainted with bright red blood. Then letting out an ear-splitting screech the feeding frenzy began. Lyle couldn't even scream as it tore through his armour and ripped into his body tearing huge chunks of flesh away and gulping them down. Soon it had reduced his body into little more than rags leaving only broken armour and a gore splattered mess behind. It was almost completely impossible to tell that the corpse was Lyle's such was the ravaging the beast had caused. Sated with its banquet the little creature staggered behind the truck, sat down and began its transformation.

Inside the Exam Centre James, having deactivated the security drones was hard at work wiping the computer data having successfully planted enough of Lyle's bombs to blow the place sky high when he wished it. With any luck he could take the entire Platoon out in one fell swoop along with that accursed bounty hunter. He could be far away from here when the Platoon arrived. As an added precaution he ordered the computer's CPU to self-destruct wiping all data from it. To prevent any chance of data recovery he decided to actually destroy the hardware itself before leaving the building just in case the detonators failed. He had lowered himself under the desk and had begun breaking into to the computer when he heard someone entering the room. Standing back up he turned to see Samus entering the room. He swore in his head. Now there would be no way of taking the building out without his cover being blown. Forcing a smile he greeted Samus just as the other members of the Platoon, minus the deceased Lyle entered. "Oh well", he thought, "one down and the rest would soon follow."


	3. James VS Samus

**James' killing spree continues and he gets the chance to go toe to toe with Samus Aran herself! Ah foolish James, if Dark Samus, Ridley and countless Metroids couldn't do it what makes you think you can? A big, heavily armed vehicle with lots of nice ways of killing meddling bounty hunters may have something to do with his decision to meet her in open combat at last! Let the battle commence!**

The silence of the glistening icy Cryosphere was only broken by the howls of the Volfon packs and the soft footsteps of James Pierce as he tracked his next victim.

While the detonators had worked and had utterly wiped any trace of evidence in the Exam Centre off the face of the galaxy, the demolition was too late to prevent the members of the 7th Platoon and Samus learning about what was going on in the Bottle Ship. While Project Metroid Warriors was still a secret he realised that it was likely only a matter of time before one of the team stumbled across it. Therefore he had no choice but to kill them all. Lyle was already dead and he knew that with their ability to communicate removed, save when in a navigation room, the other platoon members would be easy to pick off. Dealing with Samus and Adam would be trickier as Adam had full communication access to Samus and dealing with the bounty hunter herself would prove extremely difficult. Attacking her face to face in a fair fight was a suicide mission but then who had ever said James was going to play fair?

He had hoped that the purple beast that had ambushed them outside the Exam Centre would prove sufficient to ending her life but Anthony had interfered with his plasma gun and sent the creature scurrying. To his slight discomfort KG had then stumbled across Lyle's body. He had hoped the undergrowth and plants would conceal it but KG had been knocked into the foliage by one of those creatures and found Lyle. James knew that it would be painfully obvious that a Freeze Gun had been used and seeing as he had been first to reach the Exam Centre he would be the chief suspect. He really should have used some explosives on the body or at least checked to see if he was dead but he had been in a hurry to reach the Exam Centre before anyone else to give himself the time he required.

When he reached KG however, it seemed his blunder had been covered up for him. He had assumed Lyle would be lying there dead, worst case still alive, and covered in ice crystals but instead he was greeted by a mangled mess of flesh and gore. James was genuinely shocked by what he saw. Something had cleared up for him and in doing so had saved James. It was a reminder to him however, that he was just as likely to be attacked and eaten as any of his other squad mates were. He would be on high alert from now on.

While they had been discussing their next course of action, James had quietly slipped out the detonator and pressed it, wiping the Exam Centre out of existence. The group had then travelled to the nearest navigation booth to receive new orders from Adam. Adam instructed each one to head to a different location once more and James wondered if Adam already had his suspicions one of them was a Deleter. By splitting them up he could ascertain if any of the marines were not where they were supposed to be judging by when and where they checked into a navigation booth. K.G. was instructed to head to Sector 3. Maurice was told to head for Sector 2 and search for more survivors. Anthony was to return to the main deck and James to finish the sweep of the Biosphere.

Instead James had followed Maurice into the Cryosphere deciding it would be easiest to pick off whoever was not in Samus' sector. To make it appear as though he was doing his job James had done a cursory sweep of a section of the Biosphere and checked into a booth to report this. Then he had entered the Cryosphere and began tracking Maurice, doing his utmost to avoid all navigation booths even if that meant crawling through icy vents. It hadn't proved difficult to catch up to Maurice's tracks as his fellow marine constantly had to face the native creatures and so his progress had been slow. James was now going to follow Maurice until he found some survivors then James could strike and dispose of them all.

Maurice didn't mind the cold, in his opinion it was infinitely preferable to sweltering heat and so he was glad not to have been assigned to the Pyrosphere. Lyle's death had shaken him he would admit; Maurice had seen plenty of action before but had rarely been presented with such brutality. He was now concerned that if there had been any survivors all that would be left of them now would be a few scraps of flesh. A lone Volfon confronted him, howling and snarling, but Maurice deftly froze its legs to the grounds before peppering it with bullets. He heard the faint sound of something flying through the air and spun round and killed another one that had launched a surprise attack on him. Convinced no more Volfon were present Maurice continued his mission and soon came across a building atop a snowy cliff.

The air was thick with snowflakes and Maurice could not even glimpse the ground over the side of the cliff. As Maurice advanced on the building, hopeful it would contain some survivors; he heard footsteps behind him and turned around to glimpse the sight of a marine running towards him. Maurice flipped up his visor to greet his comrade, the cold air chilling his exposed face. Unable to make out the ID badge from where he was Maurice took a step forward. Suddenly, a numbing chill hit him in the chest and stopped his heart instantly, his last thought as he fell backwards was how beautiful the snowy sky was and how his family would love to see it too. Then darkness covered his eyes and he slipped painlessly from the world, the falling snowflakes forming a funeral shroud over his body.

James put away his freeze gun, convinced that the closer range and his targeting of the chest would have ensured Maurice died. He had no need to conceal the body for if the snow didn't do it for him; there would be no way to determine the cause of death as there was already enough icy fragments on Maurice's armour that no one would suspect a Freeze Gun had been involved. James nonchalantly advanced on the building confident there would be survivors inside that needed silencing.

He entered the long building and heard footsteps running away from him. Annoyed that someone must have seen him, he continued moving down the long corridor and James listened carefully for any clue as to where his target might be hiding. He soon entered a large storage room filled with huge metal crates. The footsteps had ceased and James realised that finding a person in amongst all these crates that created a labyrinthine feel to the room would be very difficult.

It was a few minutes later that James heard footsteps yet again. He was on the opposite side of the room from the entrance but could immediately tell that more than one person had entered the room. It wasn't long before he heard voices as the two beings moved through the narrow passages created by the containers.

"Don't come near me!" the first, female, voice cried, "I know why you're here!" James could hear the woman's panicked footsteps as whatever was following her advanced with a more measured heavier footfall.

Suddenly the second being spoke out, "No, you don't understand!" James swore under his breath; Samus Aran had arrived. The famed bounty hunter continued to try to calm down the hysterical woman but was rebuffed with the statement that the GF wanted to silence everyone who knew about the Bottle Ship. James smirked under the visor. How right she was!

"How can I trust you when your troops are willing to kill each other?" James' smile vanished; this woman had witnessed the death of Maurice and must have been the survivor he had chased and lost earlier. Now she'd gone and blabbed all about it to Samus. These two needed silencing and fast.

James sprinted over to an enormous, yellow, heavy industry machine titled the RB176 Ferrocrusher. While primarily used for construction, transport and other forms of labour it could also be used as a lethal combat machine and James had heard stories about entire Space Pirate armies being thrown into disarray due to the unorthodox usage of these vehicles.

"Well if it works on Space Pirates it should give Samus a run for her money," James thought starting the ignition sequence and slowly easing the machine into life. Pushing a button down the entire Ferrocrusher rose up onto its wheels giving it a very large height advantage over a human. James flicked on its dazzlingly bright spotlight and the beam immediately illuminated the figure of a young woman wearing a long white coat. Next to her was the armour clad figure of Samus Aran.

Grabbing hold of the two joysticks that controlled the majority of the Ferrocrusher's abilities, James wasted no time in ordering it to grab the nearest crate in front of it and with its colossal strength, sent the steel cube flying towards the woman who was running over to stand next to Samus. The crate missed by a few inches and crashed to a halt. Deciding he needed to get closer, James began forcing the vehicle through the wall of crates and pushed them aside with the Ferrocrusher's powerful grasping arms.

Samus dodged two more crates that James swatted her way and fired off several shots from her Ice Beam. These did no visible damage to the windscreen, much to James' relief and he bgan to feel rather confident. He lowered the Ferrocrusher's chassis and charged Samus hoping to crush her underneath the vehicle's wheels. Samus immediately rolled into her dratted morph ball and rolled clean out of the way. James hit the brakes and spun the vehicle round for another attack.

The Ferrocrusher was equipped with an extremely high thermal precision laser cutter and this proved more successful. The searing beam ignited the ground in a series of fiery explosions and blasted Samus into the air. To James' satisfaction the laser appeared to have left visible burns on her power suit.

Not wanting to give her the chance to heal her wounds, James charged, bringing one of the enormous grasping arms of the Ferrocrusher back and then swinging it forward in a lethal uppercut to grab Samus. This succeeded and the arm tightened and pinned Samus between the two red prongs that made up the arm. Watching her struggle James decided to have some fun and the end of the arm began spinning rapidly with Samus still tightly in its grasp. Driving over to a nearby wall James rammed the whirling bounty hunter against it and spun her some more which sent sparks flying off in all directions.

Deciding she must surely be dead, James hurled the armoured figure to the ground. To his awe and bewilderment the bounty hunter picked herself up and was now charging him! Still supremely shocked by her resilience, James only managed a half-hearted punch from the Ferrocrusher that Samus leapt over and subsequently she blasted the arm's "elbow" joint with a charged ice beam shot. Warnings flashed across the control pad informing James the arm could no longer move. He heard heavy footsteps above him and realised Samus was on the roof of his machine. Fearing his identity was about to be compromised, he spun the Ferrocrusher's top half violently while the bottom half drove repeatedly into a wall. This combination had the desired effect and Samus was hurled from the roof but as she landed she fired a missile straight into the frozen arm joint.

James needed no alarms to tell him that the arm had been broken off and decided to try and grab Samus yet again. This time he would crush her to a pulp and do what Mother Brain, Ridley, Kraid and entire armies of Space Pirates could not! His delusions of glory were sabotaged by Samus, who grabbed onto the arm as it came for her and ran along it towards the joint. It was with heavy resignation that James realised what was about to happen and sure enough the second arm was destroyed. Firing the laser in an increasingly manic fashion James succeeded in driving Samus back. After hitting another button in the cockpit, the Ferrocrusher went into its secondary mode.

Dropping back down low to the ground the vehicle now deployed the four "sweepers" attached to its underside. Designed to move aside snow and rubbish, the superheated bladed ends should prove more than enough to grind Samus into a bloody mess. James floored the pedal and the Ferrocrusher charged forward tearing a metal crate between it and Samus into little more than shards of metal that flew into the air like confetti. Samus leapt out of the way and fired once more at the vehicle, this time sending several missiles at it.

The Ferrocrusher was now registering considerable damage and the fuel tanks were in danger of overheating. To James' horror Samus was showing no signs of even slightly wavering and continued to dance away from his attacks all the while bombarding the vehicle. James was about to attack yet again when the vehicle apparently having had enough of being shot at, activated the automated engine cooler override. James head-butted the desk in frustration as the vehicle proceeded to expose its engine to the chilly air in an attempt to cool it. He glanced up just in time to see Samus leap past the windscreen and onto the Ferrocrusher's roof right where the engine was. James could guess exactly what was about to occur.

There was a resounding explosion and a delay of a couple of seconds before the Ferrocrusher began to erratically throw itself around the room. It managed to hit into just about every wall and crate it could find. James wrestled with the controls but, try as he might, he could not regain control over the critically damaged vehicle. As the vehicle buried itself in a wall James threw himself out of the cockpit and sprinted away deciding there had to be easier prey than Samus he could deal with. The survivor in the coat Samus had been with, who had mysteriously disappeared during the fight, sprung to mind. She didn't look like a threat and next time he hoped she would be without the benefit of her armour-clad guardian angel and utterly at his mercy.


	4. Fire and fury

**The Deleter is back for even more callous murder! Having suffered a defeat at Samus' hands, James is out to make up for his setbacks and it is time for another member of 07th Platoon to bite the, in this case, flamingly lava-like dust. The current scores are...**

**James-1 Lyle-0**

**James-1 Maurice-0**

**James-0 Samus-1**

**James-? KG-?**

**This one aint gonna be a walkover and little KG has more than his fair share of courage. In this chapter, I thought I would also explore James' outlook on the galaxy and it is a bleak one at that. **

**Read on and enjoy.**

The pounding of feet on metal resounded through the steel corridors of the Pyrosphere like the banging of a colossal war drum. Now and again this would be interspaced with the manic sound of gunfire as both the pursued and the pursuer faced off before the chase continued. James' heart was hammering in his chest as he vaulted a barrier and fired yet more bullets at the diminishing figure of KG Misawa who was running for his very survival and doing a very god job at it.

James had fled from Samus into the Pyrosphere and it had not taken long before he had stumbled across KG who was apparently still exploring the sector. James was especially aware Samus was likely to be on her way and for all he knew had worked out whom her assailant had been. Could she have found the time to scan his armour during their fight? Surely she hadn't had enough of an opening? James couldn't take that risk and decided to go for the quick kill on KG before Samus could complicate his mission further by blowing his cover.

Somehow, bewilderingly and immensely embarrassingly his first shot missed and KG nimbly threw himself out the way of the next few. There was a tense moment as the two marines faced each other with their visors up; James unsure how to proceed now he had so spectacularly revealed his intentions and KG too horrified and shocked to move. Suddenly KG perhaps remembering the stories and rumours he had heard about Deleters, as well as realising James' burst of fire had not been an accident, started running and pulled out a considerable lead over James who set off in pursuit.

Try as he might, James could not keep pace with the speedy KG whose training as a recon was obviously serving him incredibly well. He deftly leapt over obstacles, dived past creatures and took shortcuts leaving James to force his way through, more often than not, with brute force. Cursing with frustration, James clambered onto yet another head high barricade that KG had climbed effortlessly, and dropped down the other side to land on the sandy ground with no sign of his target ahead of him.

He realised immediately something was wrong as his sixth sense told him to immediately throw himself to the ground. The hail of bullets flew over where he had just stood and he saw KG emerge from the shadow cast by the barricade. James cursed and threw himself at KG before he could get a chance to fire again. Pinning the considerably smaller marine to the barricade, James began to punch him with his armour-reinforced fists and forced KG to drop his machinegun. Every time his fists connected with KG's armour there was a resounding dong and a grunt of pain from his victim. "Hell these armoured fists are golden," James thought as he landed a vicious uppercut and sent KG sprawling. KG forced himself back onto his feet, using a metal pipe to support him which he then proceeded to swing at his attacker. James dodged the first two swings but KG then delivered a thrust with the pipe and hit James in the stomach. James was knocked off balance and this allowed KG to follow up with a hefty swing to the helmet that sent James staggering away.

KG, perhaps still a little hesitant to attack his fellow marine, stayed where he was. James, sensing an opportunity, exaggerated his stagger and lumbered around a bit before he collapsed face down in the sand that filled the narrow room the two marines were battling in. He heard a gasp from KG who perhaps thinking he had killed James, sprinted over to his fallen form and, having knelt down, rolled James onto his back. James chose that moment to spring his ambush; lunging up he grabbed KG around the neck and flipped him over so that it was now KG lying in the dirt. James further disarmed KG by removing his freeze gun from its holster and chucked it away. Grabbing the metal pipe, James forced it against his prey's neck and began to push down with all his might. This caused KG to gasp out for air as he struggled to get air into his lungs at same time as trying to wrest the bar away from where it was slowly strangling him.

KG desperately kicked out and knocked James back. KG got to his feet and doubled over as he tried to get his breath back. James threw the metal pipe at him but it bonged off KG's helmet doing very little damage. KG pulled out his pistol; the only weapon left to him, and pointed it at James. Unfortunately for him, he was still very dazed. James was on him like a flash.

James twisted KG's wrist back at vicious, unnatural angles until a satisfying crack was heard and the pistol dropped to the floor. He could just make out KG's muffled scream inside the helmet. James then lifted the agonised marine up above his head and hurled KG to the ground. He picked up KG's pistol, ready to execute his former squad mate.

To his surprise KG sprung back up and began running again. Not wanting to go through another chase, James fired at KGs heel with the pistol and was rewarded with a scream of pain as KG's pace slowed. James shot him twice more in the back for good measure but the badly wounded man continued to hobble away at a most surprising a rate. James collected KG's weapons and transferred their ammo into his own weaponry. Content to follow the droplets of blood KG had left behind, James followed on, in no rush, now he knew his target was finished.

James finally cornered his prey at the end of a long, incomplete and badly damaged bridge that hung out over a searing lava lake below. KG had nowhere to go save to oblivion and James wouldn't keep him waiting. Seemingly resigned to his fate, the badly injured marine was propped up against one of the girders that made up the bridge; his good arm cradled his broken wrist. As James raised his faithful freeze gun and fired the final shot, he just about made out KG ask a question before his body collapsed to the ground. "Why?"

James wondered if he could really give a justifiable answer to that question, as pointless as it was to ask it in the first place. "Why anything?" he bitterly mulled, "Why anything in this cruel, pitiless galaxy?" Not everyone could be a galactic saviour like Samus, not everyone had the luxury of a super powered armour suit to protect them. Normal people had to crawl on their knees through life, completely at the mercy of the uncaring rulers of the galaxy whose trivial wars and powers struggles only served to decide who the common people of the galaxy should suffer under next. Samus could pretend her missions were for the greater good but all she was doing was propping up one corrupt regime by defending it against others that were no different from the very one she strove to defend. If killing people in cold blood was the way he would continue his survival then he would do it without hesitation. Survival of the fittest was everything and he sure as hell wasn't going to fall down the food chain anytime soon.

James took one final look at the marine at his feet before he kicked the body into the lava. He watched it fall and heard a large splash as it hit the lava and sank into fiery nothingness. He hadn't even checked if KG was alive or dead. It didn't matter; not really. The lava would finish James' job. James turned and walked away without a backward glance. The fiery light of the lava that played across his reflective visor and armour, gave an almost demonic quality to his appearance as he strolled back the way he had come. All the time he retraced the trail of KG's blood.


	5. Malkovich and Pierce

**This chapter deals with the unexplained incident in Other M where, just as Samus encouters Ridley, Adam is shown in the control room just before a gunshot is heard. It is never shown what actually happened so I had to fill in the blanks. Anyways it is not the most exciting chapter but neccessary to set up for what is to come later. As always I hope you enjoy.**

The elevator came to the top of the shaft and slowed to a halt. The doors opened onto the Main Sector and James Pierce stepped out of the lift.

He stopped to briefly check his weaponry and eventually decided his handgun would serve him best for this particular target. The freeze gun's ammo was severely depleted from fighting through the Pyrosphere and needed time to recharge by taking in water droplets from the air and his battle rifle was ill-suited to the cramped room he reckoned he'd be fighting in.

His handgun would therefore have to do. It almost seemed anti-climactic to kill the great Adam Malkovich in such a ordinary way but James had never been a particular fan of heroic last stands and a simple bullet to the head should more than suffice for any man, no matter his medals and prestige.

Before long James reached the door that led to the room where Adam had been directing the mission since the encounter with the purple bugs they had fought when they had first arrived.

James's choice for targeting Adam next was a logical one. Adam wasn't stupid and would have realised that it had been a long time since Maurice, KG and James had checked in at a navigation room. He would no doubt assume the worst and James was in little doubt that the commander had suspected a Deleter had been with them since the beginning. He was high enough up in the Galactic Federation to know of them and after he had found out about the illegal nature of the Bottle Ship, which no doubt he had also suspected, Adam would be all but sure those responsible in the Galactic Federation would try to clean up their mess. He probably hadn't mentioned his suspicions to anyone so as not to panic the Platoon and to lull the Deleter into a false sense of security. James had to admit the commander was no fool.

This meant Adam would be ensuring Samus and Anthony, the only two he would be making regular contact with, were informing him of absolutely everything they found. Samus was particularly difficult to deal with as she and Adam had constant communication access to each other. Samus would also be on the lookout for the Deleter after James' failed attack in the Ferrocrusher. The whole situation had become very complicated and James concluded killing Adam would be the best way to simplify it.

James leant close to the door and could just about make out Adam speaking to Samus via the communication link. He decided to listen in and to his surprise was greeted by a loud roaring noise coming from what he presumed was Samus' end of the link. The noise was distorted but it was unmistakably not just static. He could hear Adam shouting at Samus to use her plasma beam. Judging by the panic in Adam's voice, Samus was in real danger and Adam had now let his guard down.

James burst through the door and aimed the handgun at Adam who immediately spun to face him, reaching for his own gun. James fired first but Adam was ready for him and threw himself to the side. The bullet instead hit the desk Adam had been masterminding the mission from and sparks started crackling from the console as a computerized voice informed all present that audio transmission from the console was no longer possible. James grinned inside the helmet; Samus was now cut off and in what sounded like mortal danger.

He now turned his attention back to Adam who had his own gun at the ready. The two men faced off against each other and James was about to fire when it occurred to him how calm and unfazed Adam seemed. Deciding to try and distract the stoic man he was facing, James made conversation, "You were expecting this encounter weren't you? You knew a Deleter was here all along?" James was genuinely interested in the answer.

Adam waited a couple of seconds before he decided to answer, "Given the amount of opposition this mission received from certain members of the Supreme Council, who I can only assume were behind what has happened on this vessel, there was a strong possibility a Deleter might have been planted. I thought if I remained silent on the issue I would stand a better chance of catching you out if I appeared unawares. Unfortunately I underestimated your callousness and efficiency."

James snuck a quick look at the screen where he could see Samus battling for her life against a giant dragon, he recognised from Federation files as Ridley, who seemed to currently have the upper hand. "Doesn't look good for our "galactic saviour" does it?" He chuckled when he saw Adam tense and try to see the screen but couldn't due to James blocking his view.

"If I didn't know you better commander I'd say you actually cared about her. I thought such human emotions like that were beneath you and your all-consuming duty." Another thought occurred to James so he decided to air it, "Purely out of interest why didn't you share your suspicions about there being a traitor with Samus?"

"I figured she would be a key target for you and I thought if you attacked her she would easily dispose of you which she very nearly did."

James grimaced with the memory of his ill-fated attack which was still a bit of a sore point for him.

"If you thought she knew about there being a Deleter you'd be less likely to attack as any element of surprise you might have had would have been lost. In addition you'd make fewer mistakes if you thought that more than one person-"

"You used her as bait?" James snorted incredulously, "that is ice cold even for you commander. Just think if she hadn't beaten me then you'd have the pleasure of watching her die from your safe little sanctuary up here, knowing you could have at least warned her about the danger."

Adam's expression hardened and James knew he had struck a nerve. "I'll be sure to tell her all about how you played with her life before I kill her; I wonder how she'll take that news? No better than when you sacrificed your own brother I'd imagine."

Adam's faced flashed with anger, startling James with just how alien such an emotion looked on Adam's face, "How do you know about that? Information about that mission was classified? Who is your employer? What are their goals? I demand you tell me!"

James still rather taken aback by this uncharacteristic display of emotion raised his gun and pointed it at Adam, "Sorry sir I can't tell you that. I'm really just the guy they get in to clean up their mess. Needless to say they've got big plans for the future and are right under the Federation's nose. Don't worry though; you'll be long dead by the time it matters and if Ridley keeps it up so will Samus. It was an honour to serve under your command."

James was about to fire, when a sudden buzzing filled the air and he spun round to see a swarm of those dratted reos swarm through the still open door. Bullets filled the air as the sharp clawed insects were scythed clean out of the sky by the two marines. One grappled James round the chest and forced him out of the door, away from Adam who hit a button which immediately shut and locked the door. James was now separated from his target and attracting the swarm's full attention.

James eventually broke free of the reos that clawed at his armour and in a hail of fire from his machine gun, sent the bugs to their deaths. The survivors did not hang around long and buzzed away to different parts of the ship. James checked his armour for damage but mercifully it was intact and had only received light scratching. More annoyingly, Adam was now safe and secure in his room once again and James couldn't risk forcing an entry when Adam would be on high alert and ready for him.

James decided to cut his losses, he had had quite enough of playing hide and seek around the stupidly vast ship and reckoned it was about time to proceed with objective 4, the securing of Sector Zero. Then he would activate the self-destruct sequence and remove the accursed Bottle Ship and all aboard it from the galaxy.


	6. The judgement of the Deleter

**And so we come to the end of the life of James Pierce. Almost sad really but then again he has not exactly proven himself to be deserving of our pity. Karma is about to make a comeback and I hope you will enjoy the serving of justice.**

James had known he was being followed since he had left the elevator room in Sector 1 and re-entered the dense jungles of the Biosphere. The muted clunk of the elevator arriving was followed almost immediately by the clanking of armoured feet and was all he needed. He could guess who it was who was on his tail just by listening to those slow, deliberate movements of a hunter tracking her prey. Samus Aran was here and now he was the one being hunted.

She must have survived her brush with the fire breathing monster and seen him enter the elevator to the Biosphere. Had she recognised him as the marine who had tried to kill her earlier or did she think it was someone else? She couldn't know KG was dead and the figure could easily have been Adam who was more likely to be in the main sector in the first place.

She wouldn't have thought it was Anthony who for was physically much bigger than anyone else. James had in fact concluded Antony must be dead by now as he hadn't seen him since the Exam Centre and the fact he had not been with Adam or Samus, seemed to confirm this.

Samus couldn't know who she was following but there was a reasonable chance she'd assume whoever it was to be the Deleter. James had to scarper and fast. Gripping his machine gun, James sprinted into the depths of the jungle blasting all manner of alien beasts out of his way as he sought to put as much distance between himself and Samus as possible.

Eventually he decided to take a rest in a corridor overrun with alien plants of all kinds. Having cleared the room of hostile creatures he leant against a wall to take a breather before he continued to his destination; Sector Zero and the metroids he had been assigned to secure. This part of the mission was in theory simple. His employers wanted Project Metroid Warriors to continue despite the fact the Bottle Ship had spiralled way beyond their control. Something unknown had happened here that had unleashed all manner of bioweapons across the entire station and turned the place into hell. He had only come across one survivor and he couldn't imagine she had survived much longer following his encounter with her in the Cryosphere.

The plan for Sector Zero was to order the sector to jettison into space where it could be picked up by his employers who would then come to pick him up once he had ordered the station to self-destruct. The only way it could be complicated was if someone entered Sector Zero before him and either deliberately or accidentally activated the emergency protocol which meant that when the sector was damaged to a certain extent, it would jettison into space but would then self-destruct. His employers would not want to see that happen so it was imperative no one got there before him.

His thoughts were interrupted by the pounding of heavy feet and he realised with horror Samus was close by and he had no doubts she was in pursuit of him. He set off once again and passed through the shining white interior of a navigation room. Thankfully Adam still wouldn't be able to contact her so James hoped this would lead the hunter to believe that the person she was following was Adam. If Samus caught up with him she might assume it was Adam and try to find out what was going on and then when she let her guard down James could fire off a few shots with the freeze gun and then she'd be dead or at his complete mercy.

He soon reached a room with a retractable bridge. Mercifully it was currently extended so he ran across it all too aware Samus wasn't far behind. A thought occurred to him when he was halfway across. Samus wouldn't be able to follow if he destroyed the bridge controls. Her jumping skills were supernatural but the gap far exceeded the lengths she could make even with the speed booster. Sprinting back to the side he had just come from, James fired at the bridge controls and sure enough the booth started sparking and its screen dimmed to blackness. James ran across the bridge and activated the bridge controls on the other side. Sure enough the bridge retracted leaving a huge un-crossable chasm between him and Samus who, would be stuck on the other side with the broken controls and no way of pursuing him.

As he was leaving the room he glanced back and, sure enough, saw the "galactic saviour" herself standing on the other side with what he hoped was frustration on her face. James turned back and walked on. He soon came to his target room, the Bioweapon Research Centre. A large computer console dominated the room and from here anyone with high enough access codes to control many of the ship's functions and access all of its data. Beyond this particular room was where the queen metroid that was responsible for birthing all the metroids on the ship dwelt, most of which James had been informed were then genetically modified to be resistant to their age old weakness to ice. "I guess I can't use it to solve everything now can I?" James muttered, handling his ever so useful freeze gun.

He walked over to the screen and began to transmit to his employer. He needed to inform them of his progress and finalise their plans for the last phase of the cover up. He hadn't made contact prior to this due to his suspicions that Adam may still listen to his squads communicators even though James had done his best to render them obsolete and contacting through a navigation room carried the same risk that Adam might be listening. Using this console removed the risk of being eavesdropped. The screen flickered and his employer's face materialised on it. "Morgan", James greeted.

"Pierce," was the gruff reply, "I need an immediate status report on the situation on the Bottle Ship. Start talking soldier."

James shared much in common with the man on his screen who acted as a go-between James and the main conspirators. They were both military men who had become thoroughly disillusioned with the Federation and now had made it their goal to end it. Better still they both knew the harsh unforgiving nature of the galaxy and its "survival of the fittest" mantra that dominated the stars.

James started to fill in his superior, "07th Platoon found out the truth about the Bottle Ship but I believe all of them are dead now save Malkovich. Samus Aran followed the "Baby's Cry" before I could deactivate it but has not found out about the metroids." If this news bothered Morgan he certainly did not show it and nodded for James to continue.

"The entire station is a wreck and it will be extremely costly to secure it due to the bioweapons' aggressiveness being well above our estimates. There is not much more I can do here alone save jettison Sector Zero. Do I have permission to do this and then await evacuation as arranged?"

"Permission granted Pierce. When you have jettisoned Sector Zero my unit will move in, rendezvous with you and reclaim the rest of the station in order to recover as many specimens as possible before we destroy it."

James was puzzled by this command. He had assumed the other specimens were surplus when compared to the metroids in Sector Zero. The scientists among the conspirators must have found the level of waste appalling to their boffin brains that could not withstand such a pragmatic, sensible sacrifice. He wondered how many men would give their lives fighting to secure the specimens for men who would not even give the soldiers a second thought.

"But sir, Malkovich knows all about what we have done here. Leaving him and Samus alive could be a colossal mistake. We won't just be able to waltz in and clean up with him still alive. He'll know precisely what we will be doing. Even if we do get the specimens to another facility he'll just send another platoon and this whole mess could repeat itself. As long as he and Samus are alive our organisation won't be able to triumph"

"Samus is little more than a penny scrounging, hired gun. Her word will stand for nothing against our men on the Galactic Federation Council. As for Malkovich, ensure he is dead by the time you are done. The Federation is always in as much need of martyrs as it is of "galactic saviours". We will make sure any other survivors keep quiet on this whole sordid affair although feel free to dispose any you encounter. There is a pay rise in it for you for every additional fly you remove from the ointment."

James nodded, "You hardly have to remind me" he chuckled, "So in summary, jettison Sector Zero, kill Malkovich, rendezvous with you and clear up. Sounds like a normal day's work."

"Don't get cocky Pierce, you are nothing special, save for your extreme lack of morals, and to the creatures on the station you are as good a snack as anyone else. So watch your back and don't underestimate anything you come across or chances are you won't live to regret it."

With that the screen turned off and the silence of the Bottle Ship descended once more. James was about to move out when he heard footsteps approaching. Sprinting up a ramp onto a raised walkway that overlooked the room, James crouched down in the shadows and watched with disbelief as Samus Aran herself cautiously advanced into the room.

James' only thought was, "how?"

He was so incensed that his nemesis had foiled his efforts yet again that he almost contemplated leaping off the walkway gun blazing in a desperate attempt to kill her. He soon regained his composure however and decided instead to observe Samus' ineffectual attempts to hack into the computer console James had just been using.

His attention was diverted by someone else entering the room and James realised it was none other than the woman in the white coat whom Samus had saved from him in the Ferrocrusher. The woman spotted Samus and fled back the way she had come sealing herself in one of the room's storage offshoots. James watched as Samus moved over to the door and eventually the woman allowed Samus to enter.

James had no idea what the two women had conversed about but when they emerged the survivor sat down at the computer and immediately began typing. James could just about hear the word metroid being uttered between them. Samus knowing about Sector Zero was a major grievance he could have done without.

"That stupid cow must have told Samus everything!" James thought with alarm. The conversation continued and Samus left the room with definite purpose. He could only assume that she was headed for Sector Zero.

James was now seriously worried about the mission's chances of success. If Samus charged into Sector Zero all guns blazing there was a good chance she would accidentally cause it to jettison and explode. Alternatively the metroids might kill her first seeing as they were unfreezable but then it struck James. Did Samus actually know they were unfreezable? If the woman in the white coat knew of the metroids' existence then she'd know these ones couldn't be frozen. Why was Samus going to attack metroids she couldn't kill? Did she intend to jettison the Sector deliberately or had the survivor she had just been talking to not filled her in on everything and withheld some potentially lifesaving details? A dark thought entered James' head; perhaps he wasn't the only one on this ship who wanted Samus dead?

Regardless Samus was now heading for what would be certain doom either way. James was at a loss as to how to proceed. If he left Samus to run her own course the metroids could get her or she'd jettison the Sector and his employers would be furious he had done nothing to stop her. If he did try to stop her there was a good chance she'd kill him in the encounter and still carry on into Sector Zero. James' eventually settled for following her and then when she entered the Sector and was entirely focused on fighting the metroids he'd freeze her and leave her at the mercy of the metroids that would no doubt make short work of her. The thought of her lying helpless in her Zero Suit while a flock of angry metroids circled her menacingly was most appealing and certainly a fool proof way to dispose of her.

Before that though he still had a certain survivor to deal with.

Rising from his crouched position James slowly and deliberately began advancing on the woman who was still standing by the computer. He advanced with purpose and saw her tense as she realised he was approaching. "Good" he thought, "she can die knowing I never leave a job half done."

He advanced closer in order to ensure she'd have nowhere to run from him. To his surprise the woman seemed quite composed. No trembling or weeping, she just stood there stock still while he got ever closer. Her silence was immensely unnerving and James felt himself beginning to falter with every step he took. Surely she'd make a break for it at some point or start begging him for mercy?

Still she did not turn and James felt himself starting to sweat as he got the distinct impression there was something he had missed. His sixth sense was screaming at him and Morgan's warning echoed, "-don't underestimate anything you come across or chances are you won't live to regret it."

Something was in clear sight that he hadn't seen and for whatever reason his prey was entirely unbothered about her imminent death. He thought he heard a faint sound of movement in a dark corner of the room but ignored it when his victim finally began turning to face him.

Her face was blank and unmoved. James raced his gun when to his bewilderment he noticed the corners of her mouth turn up. "Why on earth was she smiling at him?" Then he realised where the smile was directed. With his heart pounding in his chest James slowly spun round and looked up... straight into the nightmarish maw of the most hellish creature he had ever confronted.

Its enormous bulk was at least twice as tall as he was and its purple carapace protected what was obviously an incredibly muscular body. Its flat face had a hideous mouth at its centre crammed with razor sharp teeth. On its face were numerous sickly pink eyes glowered at James. It had four wings, each one with iridescent greens and purples flitting across it. Their beauty was incongruous with their hideous owner.

Also on its back were four metal plates shaped like a quarter of a sphere that James presumed served as wing cases. Their obvious metallic surface served to remind James that this beast could never have been conceived by nature and was the product of man's meddling in affairs that, James remarked at this moment, would have been far better left alone.

Its powerful legs tapered into sharp points and its tail was ended in a set of viciously sharp spikes. What worried James most were its arms which were ended with enormous curved blades, similar to mantis claws but much thicker. James knew his armour would prove next to no defence against such weapons and what worried him most was that he had the distinct impression the creature knew that too.

James fired his handgun at point blank range into the beast's face but to his horror the creature hardly flinched as the bullet ricocheted off it. It leant down close to his face and roared sending spittle flying onto James visor.

Then it struck.

Suddenly it lunged forward and shoulder barged James sending him crashing to the floor and knocking his handgun away. James struggled backwards across the ground and witnessed to his surprise the woman beginning to walk towards the monster. James wondered if she was truly mad and waited in expectation for the creature to tear her screaming limb from limb but instead it just stood where it was and let her approach.

She ran her hand across one of its claws and then gestured in the direction of James. To top it off she then spoke to it. "Go Desbrachian judge this foolish human who would resist us." James's terror turned to absolute paralysis when the creature turned back to him and began advancing raising its claws as it did so.

With an unearthly screech it brought them down towards James who rolled away and narrowly avoided being impaled by them. Getting to his feet and aiming with his battle rifle he unloaded magazine after magazine into the creature that was struggling to free its claws from the floor.

Snarling with pain the Desbrachian finally freed itself and charged again at James at a speed he would not have thought possible for such a large animal. James leapt out of the way but the beast having seemingly guessed his movement, swung one of its claws out as it passed and slashed him across the chest.

James glanced down and saw that the claw had sheared clean through his armour. By some miracle it had not reached the flesh. The Desbrachian carried on going and slammed into the wall. Growling, it flung a heavy crate at James which bounced away to the left of him. James decided to go on the offence and charged the creature whilst firing freeze gun shots at it. The Desbrachian responded by using its wing cases as shields and James could only watch as the ice crystals dissipated without leaving a mark.

It came at him again, claws a blur, and gradually backed him into a corner. James was so focused on dodging he had no time to even fire a single bullet in response. Finally seeing a gap in its relentless attacks, James slid across the floor and ran up the ramp onto the raised walkway that had been his hiding place hoping to use it as a safe firing point that the Desbrachian wouldn't be able to get to.

He sensed rather than saw the bulky insect leaping through the air and sure enough it came crashing down right in front of him buckling several of the plates that made up the walkway. Before he could back up, its claw swung out and sent him flying from the walkway. He landed on his front and heard his visor crack from the impact. Shards of broken visor cut his face but he ignored them, hoping he'd find a spare helmet somewhere, and rolled onto his back and pointed his rifle at the Desbrachian that was still prowling about on the walkway.

Its muscles tensed and it leapt again gliding in an almost elegant fashion. The shadow of its claws fell over his chest and James desperately scrambled back as it descended like a carrion bird onto a carcass.

He screamed with agony as its claws came down, one of them piercing through his left leg and pinned him to the floor. Howling as blood sprayed from the wound, James fired like a man possessed and this time was rewarded as his bullets gouged several of the creatures' eyes out and left green ichor pumping from its skull.

The two combatants writhed in rage and agony against their pain but the Desbrahcian still found the strength to continue despite its mortal wounds. This time its claws found their mark. James' mouth filled with blood as one of its blades impaled him through the chest and reduced his screams to a sickening gurgle as the beast lifted him up into the air. He dropped his rifle and feebly pushed at the claw that sunk ever deeper into his body.

Finally the monster having exhausted the last of its reserves slid back, releasing James who fell to his knees and futilely tried to staunch the bleeding. The Desbrachian gave a last hiss before it curled up and died, its body melting away into nothing.

James crawled a few feet not knowing where he was going due to the pain which clouded his thoughts. He was a sad pitiful state as he desperately tried to call for help. But who was left alive to help him?

His vision was already beginning to blur.

Suddenly, through the haze, a white clad figure approached, took his hand and began pulling him to his feet. Then they let go and James tumbled back onto the metal floor now as cold as his body and he could just make out the woman in the white coat turning her back and walking away.

New figures swam in his vision and he had just enough strength to recognise the squad mates he'd killed. "I would say I'm sorry", he half thought, "but that'd be lying." The figures faded and he was alone once more. A small comfort was that his belief in a harsh pitiless galaxy had been proved correct and he almost accepted his death as a kind of inevitability. "There's always something stronger than you" he mused "and one day, quite soon, our 'galactic saviour' will find that out too. She cannot stop our revolution. Shame I won't be there to see-"

Darkness covered his eyes and he was in pain no more.

**Thank you for once more for reading but the story does not end here (I shall not be got rid of so easily!) Read on and witness portents of doom!**

**Note: The creature responsible for James' demise can be viewed on the Metroid Wikia. Twas a bit tricky to describe it so a visit could help clarify.**


	7. Epilogue

**Well then it turns out the show must go on even without the main character! Here is a little look at the mission's aftermath but it delivers anything but closure... (insert mad laugh) **

"Colonel. The bodies are ready to be commemorated sir."

He glanced round with a growing sense of irritation as the over-helpful Corporal Bard addressed him. As if he needed reminding of the post-mission procedures. He'd been in the army longer than this scrawny upstart had been alive!

"Yes I know Bard, do I look like a snot nosed whelp to you?" He watched as his subordinate immediately began blustering in an attempt to apologise but this only irritated him more.

"Go make yourself useful!" he barked.

"How sir?"

"By leaving me alone."

Bard flinched, "yes sir, my apologies Colonel Morgan, I'll check how the specimen transfer is going sir." The corporal walked away leaving Morgan to his thoughts.

It had been a frustrating mission. While his official mission, that of securing and overseeing the destruction of the Bottle Ship had gone according to plan, and in a couple of days the station would be nothing but drifting debris, his illegal mission on behalf of those who were responsible for the Bottle Ship had not gone as well. They had succeeded in recovering numerous specimens and the greatest thorn in their side Adam Malkovich was no more but even so they could hardly call it a victory.

The metroids had been lost and this would have set them back at least three months. While they could acquire enough metroid cells to begin the cloning process again, it would take a great deal of time and effort. To compound the metroid problem they now needed a suitable interface to interact with and control them.

Morgan had personally ordered his troops to kill the last attempt at successfully controlling them, the defective robot MB. Its interactions with the creatures had led to disastrous consequences that he was still cleaning up. The android had had a colossal emotional malfunction and had ravaged the Bottle Ship through its command of the bioweapons. One lesson they would take away was that they would be more careful to whom they gave control over the bioweapons in the future.

The situation was made more aggravating by the arrival and survival of Samus Aran and Anthony Higgs. While Deleter Pierce had succeeded in eliminating most of the Platoon, the survival of these two had the potential to be ruinous. Had Anthony died, the entirety of 07th Platoon would have been lost which meant that Morgan's recovery mission would overrule Malkovich's as, under the laws passed by the current Galactic Federation's Justice Minister, should all squad members assigned to a mission perish, any subsequent recovery teams are free to act in any way they deem fit regardless of the first squad's orders.

As it was, Anthony had been able to fulfil his mission which had been to search for survivors and had had the chief witness to the Bottle Ship's atrocities; Dr Madeline Bergman whisked from under Morgan's nose. No doubt she would now be placed under extreme protection by Aran and Higgs until she could give evidence against the other members of the conspiracy. Still that was a problem for another day and Morgan knew the organisations plans were far from finished. There was no going back for any of them.

Morgan knew Samus would continue to interfere in their plans and attempt to thwart them now she knew of the conspiracy. However, she had no idea just how deep the organisation ran in the Federation. Morgan could not imagine how much the famed "galactic saviour" would end up regretting answering that damned Baby's Cry.

The tentative sound of approaching footsteps alerted Morgan to the fact Corporal Bard was returning to pester him.

"Colonel Morgan sir, there are some flaws and omissions with the specimen transfer data forms, sir. You appear to have filled in every form saying that the specimen could not be salvaged. But we have several dozen specimens all ready for transportation to the Galactic Federation. You can't mean to withhold these specimens from the Galactic Federation?"

Morgan took a deep breath before he put his arm round Bard and led him away. "Now Bard, I am quite fond of you-" He wasn't. "-and I see a lot of potential in you-" He didn't. "-but you will have to accept that in the army your commanding officer knows best and who is your commanding officer, Corporal?"

"You sir." Bard piped up, "I merely thought-"

"Don't think Bard. Too much thinking led to the freakish weapons held in those crates. You are a soldier not a scientist and as you can see-" he gestured towards the row of coffins, "-science has cost enough people's lives already." Bard looked long and hard at the coffins perhaps envisaging it could just as easily have been him who hadn't made it back.

It was true that Morgan personally despised bioweapons but that didn't mean he objected to the conspiracy using them. The end justified the means and if using the bioweapons would end the Federation then he could easily put aside his personal reservations.

Morgan coughed and Bard turned his attention back to him, "As commanding officer on this mission I have deemed these specimens too dangerous to be allowed to exist and so will take them from here to destroy them. I do this for the greater good of the Federation and if the Supreme council disapproves of my actions then so be it. Think of the calamity that could be unleashed if the Space Pirates raided the Federation and got hold of those bioweapons. We have Ridley's corpse for god's sake! They won't just let us hang on to it if they find out. No it is far safer to erase these abominations from the galaxy."

Bard saluted, "Sir truly it is an honour to serve with such an upstanding GF commander as you." Bard moved off and Morgan decided to take his initial advice and commemorate the coffins of those who had fallen.

Morgan reached the line of coffins and moved down them performing the commemoration on each one. Each coffin was a simple black cuboid and had a small blue screen located on their front which displayed who the occupant was, when and where they had died, any medals and honours they had received and the name of the person who had commemorated their service and death in the name of the Federation. In this way the families would be able to feel the deceased had been valued by the Federation and their deeds had not gone unrecognised. Normally the commemorator was the individual's commanding officer but numerous commentators were allowed. The most exceptional soldiers were often commemorated by the Galactic Federation Chairman himself. For now though it fell to Morgan to do this and place a sticker on each coffin showing the commemoration job had been done.

Most of his unit's casualties had been from bioweapons but those whose bodies they couldn't recover, like the trio of unfortunate souls who had been sucked out a faulty airlock, had empty coffins that could never be filled. He'd lost several good men today.

Then he reached Malkovich's Platoon.

Lyle Smithsonian, Maurice Favreau and KG Misawa's coffins lay before him. Officially the cause of their deaths was unknown and Morgan would keep it that way. They had not found KG's body but, while it gave hope for his survival to some, Morgan knew it was much more likely that James had been good at disposing of evidence.

Adam Malkovich's empty box was next and Morgan slapped the sticker on his coffin with badly concealed contempt for the man who had so done so much to interfere in their plans. He glared at the huge list of medals and honours the illustrious man had possessed and no doubt would receive more of now he was a martyr.

Finally he reached James Pierce's coffin. "Stupid fool," Morgan muttered while he placed the sticker. "Still you did a reasonable job I guess, could have hoped for better though." He sarcastically patted the coffin and announced loudly to his men that they were ready to clear out.

Two GF frigates, the Agamemnon and the Menelaus waited in space ready to receive them. The Menelaus would fly the troops back to their base and then deliver the corpses to the GF memorial planet of Requiem. The Agamemnon, captained by Morgan, would then take the specimens straight to the conspirators under the pretence of a training mission.

The soldiers, equipment, specimens and coffins started to be loaded onto the correct transports that would fly them to the frigates. Morgan stood by the coffins as they were loaded one by one. Malkovich's was taken and then it was Pierce's turn.

As the bearers began to lift James' coffin Morgan put his hand on it. "This one's not for Requiem. We still have our uses for James Pierce." The bearers nodded and Morgan paced away to stand alone.

Colonel Morgan lit a cigarette and mused to himself, "There is a storm approaching and against its wrath Aran will inevitably fall. Nothing shall ever stand in our way again."

He snubbed the cigarette out on James's coffin. "You too still have your part left to play. It's not over. It's far from over. It's never over until we have victory."

**Is this a cliffhanger I smell before me? Yes I guess it is. Will I follow it up? Well wait and see and all your dreams (or nightmares depending on what you thought of this story) may just come true! Hope you enjoyed "Deleted". It was a pleasure to write it.**


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